


Lost

by howlingwolvesonfire



Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: F/M, Humor, Miscommunication, Single Brain Cell Jellal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-16
Updated: 2020-11-16
Packaged: 2021-03-10 07:46:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,850
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27589738
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/howlingwolvesonfire/pseuds/howlingwolvesonfire
Summary: Cobra hates to break it to Jellal exactly why Erza and Macbeth keep getting “lost” whenever they go into town for supplies but...actually he’s delighted to tell him.
Relationships: Cobra | Erik & Jellal Fernandes, Midnight | Macbeth/Erza Scarlet
Comments: 4
Kudos: 17





	Lost

**Author's Note:**

  * For [dragonshost](https://archiveofourown.org/users/dragonshost/gifts).



> Birthday fic for dragonshost! Hope you enjoy! This is one where I wrote the synopsis as a set of warm-ups and got attached to it haha.

"Where are those two? I thought they'd be back hours ago..."

Cobra sighed, internally and out. For a man as calculating and conniving as Jellal, he sure was slow on the uptake sometimes. Not that the two in question were being completely forthright about their true intentions...

He sighed again, a little louder. He would have to stop covering for them one of these days...

"Oi, Star Boy."

Jellal glanced at him in annoyance. "Erik, do you know what's taking them so long? Can you hear them from here?"

The place they camped wasn't terribly far from the town the two had gone to for supplies, and even if it had been, Cobra's ears had widened their range ever since the Infinity Clock incident. No, hearing wasn't the problem here.

It was blocking out their irritating demeanor when they were alone.

"Hey, be real with me. You really don't get it do you?"

"What?" Jellal's dark green eyes squinted in annoyance. "I have no idea what you're suggesting, but if you don't know where they are then we should think about searching for them."

Cobra pinched his temples, "No...that's the one thing they don't want you to do right now."

"Huh? Erik, explain yourself, now."

The look on Jellal's face might have intimidated Cobra if he wasn't already so filled with irritation. "You know, I've actually been trying not to say anything, thinking that you've gotta figure it out eventually. But no, you've remained almost entirely oblivious."

"If you don't quit antagonizing me-"

"Why do you think it's _only_ those two?"

"Wh-Those two? Why is that strange? We've all gotten sidetracked or held up before."

"...For seemingly hours at a time, consistently? Really Jellal, I'd rather not be roped into these two's despicable behavior."

The blue haired mage shook his head, dazed. "Wait...are you implying...this is on purpose?"

"No, I'm implying they're imbeciles." Cobra muttered.

Jellal put his hand to his mouth, his eyes still shrouded in confusion. "But...why?"

Cobra listened, _really listened_ just to make sure he wasn't being yanked around by all three of them. Sadly, Jellal's mind was just about as hopelessly grasping at straws as he thought. He couldn't tell if he'd be destroyed or even further confused by the news.

Which is why it was so fun to imagine.

"I guess you really aren't in the loop then...well then, let's just say those two are performing...less than scrupulous behavior while out in town."

"What?!" Jellal's face was now pricelessly astonished. "S-Since when?"

"Oh...I don't know...since the second time they were out alone?" Cobra played up his resignation just a tad, but he doubted Jellal noticed under the weight of said new information. And yes, he was being kinda vague, but it's so much more _fun_ when they filled in all the blanks themselves.

The real deal was so tame it was almost boring. He could hear them if he really focused in. The whispered, close conversations among a busy crowd, the gasps whenever one unexpected took the other's hand...it was sickening. Even more so when they got back to camp like nothing happened, save for the red cheeks and soft smiles reserved for just the two of them.

Well...not anymore.

"Yeeep, I could go into detail but maybe you want to ask the two of them-"

"I'll do no such thing."

At Jellal's sudden assertion Cobra halted for a moment. Did he hear that right? "Wait, really? Isn't it important that you know what they're doing behind your back?"

Jellal stared at Cobra with a half-smile, closer to a grimace, as he answered. "I am technically the one in charge of half of them, and Erza has agreed to help us in the coming weeks. But…" he stared solemnly at the ground.

"It's not as if I want to keep such a tight hold over everyone here that it chokes them. I trust Erza and I trust Macbeth as well. If they were truly in over their heads you wouldn't heckle me about it, you'd tell it to my face. Although I might have to ask you to tell them not to be out _quite_ this late next time." In this roundabout way, he implied that he trusted Cobra as well. The one-eyed man's gaze took on just a hint more exacerbation.

"You really are irritatingly boring, you know that right?"

Jellal just laughed. "Would you rather I go back to a crazed tyrant?"

"...Maybe," Cobra mumbled half-heartedly. "Still, it is a _little_ surprising that you're taking this so well. I thought your face would pale up and you'd be murmuring curses over those two until the day you died."

"Curses? Why on Earthland would I do that?" Jellal said. "Besides...

"...if Erza wants to cover for him that bad, then it can't possibly be that bad."

Cobra frowned. That sentence was phrased oddly. He stared at Jellal once again, his intuition telling him that something didn't match up. Then his magic kicked in…

"...oh you've got to be kidding me."

"What? Hey, did you hear them again?" Suddenly Jellal paused and began to put his hands over his ears. "Wait, don't tell me. I've resigned myself to not knowing and I mean it! They can tell me if they feel it's important for me to know!"

If Cobra was alone he might have curled up and cried. The sheer...he didn't even know how to describe it. Denseness? Lack of creativity? Whatever it was, it totally just ruined his good mood.

As Jellal continued to press his hands over his ears and Cobra began yelling out completely random things to annoy him, he began to think for the first time that he really wouldn't mind the two walking in on them right now.

* * *

They finally arrived a little after midnight, supplies in tow and tired smiles on their faces.

"Thank you again for accompanying me Macbeth," Erza stated, with a tone slightly warmer than one would anticipate for mere errand running.

Macbeth shrugged. "My magic keeps me up now anyway, might as well actually go somewhere instead of falling asleep on watch."

"Hey, you two."

The two in question turned around sharply. Cobra sat on a log, his single eye glowering at the two of them. "Listen, I get it. But could you tone it down, even a tad? I'm getting sick of hearing the two of you go through this every night you're out."

It was dark, but Cobra could swear he saw them both appear a bit redder than before. Macbeth scowled at him. "Of course _you_ would know. Can't you ever keep out of things that aren't your business?"

"I'll start when you do." This earned him another scowl from Macbeth as Erza stepped forward.

"Listen, Erik...maybe you have the wrong idea. We're only out so late because we-"

"-are trying to soak up all the alone time you can into a haphazard date night. I get it, I get it, I really do." Erza's shocked face probably grew even redder under the moonlight, but he was far from done. "You know who _doesn't_ get it? Jellal. So that thin veneer of security you two have? I'm the only thing holding that together. So I just want to ask that next time you're this obnoxious you at least keep it to a maximum of an hour over. Because inevitably, I have to cover for you, and besides listening to you two pine for each other all night, this is just kind of annoying."

"You _told_ him?!" They shouted in unison. He genuinely couldn't tell who was scarier at that moment. Truly, a power couple.

"Pipe down, it's late. And for your information, I _tried,_ I really, really tried. But I guess you two have fantastic luck, because like I just said _he didn't get it_."

The two blinked, seemingly dumbfounded. "He didn't...you told him what was happening and he couldn't understand?" Erza asked

Cobra sighed for what was maybe the tenth time that night. "No, I gave him a vague answer and he filled in the blanks wrong. Well, more like he filled them in with the only answer that sad idiot's brain would allow. Basically," he pointed at Macbeth, "you're doing something somewhat dastardly, but not enough to actually be in any serious trouble. And you," he pointed back at Erza, "are covering for him by insisting that it takes a while to get supplies."

"Why on Earthland would I/she do that?!" Once again they answered in unison, much to the assault of Cobra's poor ears.

"Because...you're trying to make an effort to get along better. In his eyes anyways."

He answered so flatly he was sure that the tone of utter disbelief carried over to the couple. "Somehow he believes that you're benefiting from this also, Titania, so he's chalking it up to a very strange bonding time for you two. And since he's all about everyone getting along…" He shrugged his shoulders in surrender. "Here we are now."

The two stood, plainly shocked at it all. Whether it was shock from finding out how lucky or shock at finding out how _un_ lucky they were at the current moment he decided not to press to find out. He'd had enough horrible surprises that day.

"And...you're not going to tell him the truth?"

"Only if you decide to keep coming back ridiculously late...which you two will stop doing, right?"

Erza stared at him, he could see her weighing the pros and cons in her mind. Then she nodded, slowly. Macbeth looked a little disappointed by the lack of fight. "We could just kill him, be a lot easier..." he heard the reflector mage mumble before Erza punched him with a metal fist. Given that he cradled his arm in pain, it seems she didn't feel the need to hold back, and he slowly nodded as well.

"Good. Alright team, break." Cobra shuffled off as quickly as he could, knowing that since his only real advantage was purely mental he shouldn't stick around too long in case they fully realized that. Macbeth's comment might have easily become a reality. "Seriously though, when he finds out he's either going to die or kill you Macbeth, so watch out." Despite the risks, he couldn't help giving out one final warning before he fully disappeared.

As he took off, he couldn't help but notice that the two still hovered around the area, as if they didn't want to break the dream of the night by heading back into camp. It was...still completely disgusting. Seriously, how was Jellal not seeing this?

He gave a final sigh and gave a half-hearted laugh at the whole thing. It was stupid, sure, but he was already thinking of what to do when Jellal (correctly) put all the pieces together. He could still find some use out of this yet as he continued back into camp, smirking only a little bit as he waited for the other two not far behind.


End file.
